The weekly Kansas newspaper that was subjected to an unprecedented police raid over the summer filed a federal lawsuit against local officials Monday — accusing the “co-conspirators” of seeking revenge and causing the death of the publisher’s 98-year-old mother.
The Marion County Record alleged that the city of Marion, the Marion County Commission and five current and former local officials violated the paper’s constitutional rights to free press when police stormed into its office Aug. 11 and seized a trove of materials.
Former Mayor David Mayfield ordered the takedown of the newspaper and a political rival after identifying journalists as “the real villains in America,” according to a 137-page complaint.
“The last thing we want is to bankrupt the city or county, but we have a duty to democracy and to countless news organizations and citizens nationwide to challenge such malicious and wanton violations of the First and Fourth Amendments and federal laws limiting newsroom searches,” said Marion County Record publisher and editor Eric Meyer.
“If we prevail, we anticipate donating any punitive damages to community projects and causes supporting cherished traditions of freedom.”
The newspaper alleges that the politicians and law enforcement used local restaurateur Kari Newell’s complaints that a Marion County Record reporter illegally obtained her DUI records as an excuse to attack the newspaper.
Former Police Chief Gideon Cody — who later resigned after nationwide outcry — justified the raids by claiming he had probable cause to believe the newspaper and a reporter potentially committed identity theft and other computer crimes in obtaining and verifying information about a local business owner’s driving record.
Law enforcement raided the Marion County Record’s office and the home publisher Meyer shared with his 98-year-old mother, Joan Meyer — who died just 24 hours later from what the lawsuit attributed to a stress-induced heart attack.
Meyer — a veteran newswoman herself — reportedly told Cody, “Boy, are you going to be in trouble.”
“My job is to make sure Joan’s promise is kept,” the newspaper’s attorney, Bernie Rhodes, said in a statement.
Another investigator involved in the raid, Marion County Sheriff Jeff Soyez, also regularly said he did not approve of Meyer’s “negative attitude,” the lawsuit claims.
The lawsuit, filed by Meyer and the Marion County Record’s parent company, says it was filed to seek justice over “intolerable” violations of constitutional rights and “to deter the next crazed cop from threatening democracy.”
It marks the fourth lawsuit filed in federal court in Kansas over the raids.
The first was filed by former reporter Deb Gruver just three weeks after the bust. Court reporter Phyllis Zorn filed the second lawsuit in February, followed by another by newspaper office manager Cheri Bentz.
The lawsuit did not include a specific figure for potential damages. However, in a separate notice to local officials, the paper and its publisher said they believe they are due more than $10 million.
The notice also says that Meyer and his mother suffered “extreme and severe distress” and that their estate is entitled to $4 million in damages for that. It also argues that the newspaper deserves $2 million for its damages and punitive damages should exceed $4 million.
With Post wires